Friday, March 17, 2023

Trust Is a Cure for Fear, Anxiety, and Worry

                                                                (Moon over Cancun.)


(I'm re-posting this for a friend.)

I bought a new chair for my home office. I had the previous chair for twenty years. I trusted it. I knew it would hold me. Therefore, I had no anxiety in regard to it.
It would be contradictory to say, "I trust the chair I'm sitting in, but am afraid it won't hold me."

Where there is trust, there is no fear. 
This is true with my office chair. It is also true with God. Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" 
The antidote to a fearful heart is to make God one's "fortress and strength," the result being, "what shall I then fear?"
We see the connection between trust and fearlessness throughout Scripture. 

Psalm 56:3 - Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
Psalm 56:11 - In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (I "put" my trust in the Lord, like I "put" the water in the glass. Trust is an action. This is a very Hebraic idea.)

Psalm 112:7 - He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Isaiah 12:2 - Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’”

Where there is trust, there is an absence of anxiety. The person who is mostly filled with anxiety and fear is the person who does not *trust, or whose trust is misplaced. 

How do I make God my trust?

Trust is an action we take. I “put my trust in the Lord.”

          If God was a chef, I would eat his cooking.

          If God was a shepherd, I would listen for his voice and follow.

          If God was a rock, I would stand on him.

          If God was a fortress, I would make my home in him.

          If God was a river, and I a tree, I would send my roots to him.

If God was a vine, and I a branch, I would attach myself to him.

If God was a fire, I would be consumed by him.

If God was water, I would drink of him.

If I was a cup, I would be filled to overflowing by him.

         If God was a hidden treasure, I would seek him.

If God was a word, I would read him.

If God was my Lord, I would obey him.

If God was a chair, I would sit on him.

I would do these things every day…  after day…  after day.

There is a cumulative effect that results from a lifetime of trusting in God. A psychological confidence, a certitude, emerges. It is like the confidence I got as a result of sitting in the same chair for twenty years, and finding that, through it all, it still holds. 


*I recognize that there are clinical, neurophysical conditions that cause anxiety and fear. The antidote for such conditions may be medications. But even when medications stabilize a person's emotions, issues of trust may remain. Medication will not help a person when the only chair they have keeps breaking.

***
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